Jatiya Party Presidium member and Leader of the Opposition Rawshan Ershad yesterday criticised party Chairman HM Ershad for taking decisions unilaterally and changing his mind frequently.
She also warned Ershad, her husband, not to misuse power as the party chief. Several Presidium members of the party and MPs of the 10th parliament joined the joint meeting held at Spectra Convention Centre in the capital.
Ershad, now a special envoy to the prime minister, also faced questions by a number of Presidium members who had withdrawn nomination papers upon his order.
Rawshan said they had taken part in the election upon the party chief’s directives.
Without mentioning names, Rawshan also came down heavily on the party chief for inducting on his own some paid employees of the party as its senior leaders. Such activities hamper the party’s image, she said.
Rawshan said: “Jatiya Party could not do well in the upazila polls compared to other parties only because of your mismanagement.”
She also expressed frustration as there had been no council in the party in the last 12 years, and that none of the party’s units had a full-fledged committee.
Party’s Secretary General Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu, and Presidium members Anisul Islam Mahmood and Mashiur Rahman Ranga and Salma Islam were present at the meeting among others.
However, Ershad’s younger brother GM Quader and former secretary general ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader did not attend the meeting.
In the face of severe criticisms, Ershad said: “Let us forget everything and work together to strengthen the party.”
Meeting sources confirmed to the Dhaka Tribune that the party decided to hold upazila, district and central councils before December this year to elect new leadership.
Before joining the meeting, Ershad told reporters that in the future the party would work with everyone’s assistance, not with a single person’s decisions.
